The very interesting topic in Russian language is “Plural form of Russian nouns“. By all means, this topic is very important as it is used in all aspects of the language. The English language is easier in this aspect. If you need to create a plural form, you simply add the letter “s”.
In Russian, things are not the same. There are different plurals in each case since Russian is based on the case system. Don’t be scared! This is not hard at all. We are going to teach you to recognize and form plurals.
Usually Russian language web resources teach you plurals in table form for all cases in time. As a result, a lot of students struggle to memorize plurals for quite a long time, as they are worrying too much about learning all the endings at once. However, we prefer more logical and comprehensible methods of teaching plurals separately for each of the 6 cases. By now you should have a good understanding of the Nominative case.
For Masculine Nouns:
If the last letter is ending with a consonant, then add «ы» (table – стол – столы, computer – компьютер – компьютеры, hair – волос – волосы, cake – торт – торты, student – студент – студенты…)
If the last letter is ending with a semi-vowel «й», then replace it with «и» (tea – чай – чаи, museum – музей – музеи…)
If the last letter is ending with a soft sign «ь», then replace it with «и» (vocabulary – словарь – словари)
For Feminine Nouns:
If the last letter is ending with a vowel «а», then replace it with «ы» (visa – виза – визы, newspaper – газета – газеты)
If the last letter is ending with a semi-vowel «я», then replace it with «и» (surname – фамилия – фамилии)
If the last letter is ending with a soft sign «ь», then replace it with «и» (moose – лось – лоси, pain – боль – боли, copybook – тетрадь – тетради)
For Neutral Nouns:
If the last letter is ending with a vowel «о», then replace it with «а» (window – окно – окна, the letter – письмо – письма)
If the last letter is ending with a semi-vowel «е», then replace it with «я» (building – здание – здания, sea – море – моря)
To get more information about plural forms of nouns in Russian language and several of other useful materials, check out our video course where we explain details with examples for this topic. The video course also has other important aspects to it.
Keep in Mind:
1. These nouns are only in Plural (они)
брю́ки – trousers, джи́нсы – jeans, часы́ – watch, де́ньги – money, очки́ – glasses
2. Some nouns have an unusual Plural form:
(man) челове́к — лю́ди (people), (child) ребёнок — де́ти (children)
3. These words have an –а endings in Plural
(city) город — города́ (cities), (house) дом — дома́ (houses), (camp) ла́герь — лагеря́ (camps), (eye) глаз — глаза́ (eyes),
(passport) па́спорт — паспорта́ (passports), (bank, coast) бе́рег — берега (banks, coasts), (doctor) до́ктор — доктора́ (doctors), (director) дире́ктор — директора (directors)